ABSTRACT

Objectification refers to the perception and treatment of human beings as mere objects. Although this dehumanizing process has deeply permeated the domain of work throughout history, social psychology researchers have only recently begun to empirically investigate it. Here, we review the recent literature that analysed working objectification by considering its two main facets: objectification (when workers are objectified by others) and self-objectification (when workers objectify themselves). First, we theoretically define the construct of working objectification, disentangling it from related constructs and reviewing the research on motivational and cognitive processes underpinning workers’ objectification. Then, we focus on the workers’ perspective and systematise the research on the consequences of the metaperception of being objectified. Finally, we focus on a series of experimental and field studies that analyse the antecedents and consequences of workers’ self-objectification. We conclude by discussing future directions and highlighting the theoretical and practical contributions of this line of research.

摘要

客体化是指将人类视为纯粹的客体来感知和对待。尽管这种去人性化的过程在整个历史上都深深地渗透到了工作领域，但社会心理学研究人员直到最近才开始对其进行实证研究。在这里，我们回顾了最近分析工作客观化的文献，考虑了它的两个主要方面：客观化（当工人被他人客观化时）和自我客观化（当工人客观化自己时）。首先，我们从理论上定义了工作客体化的结构，将其与相关结构分开，并回顾了支持工人客体化的动机和认知过程的研究。然后，我们关注工人的视角，系统地研究被客观化的元知觉的后果。最后，我们专注于一系列实验和实地研究，分析工人自我客观化的前因和后果。最后，我们讨论了未来的方向，并强调了这一研究方向的理论和实践贡献。